Moving Beyond Smart Cities: Digital Nations For Social .
Information Systems Frontiers (2019) 30-0Moving beyond Smart Cities: Digital Nations for Social Innovation& SustainabilityArpan Kumar Kar 1 & Vigneswara Ilavarasan 1 & M. P. Gupta 1 & Marijn Janssen 2 & Ravi Kothari 3Published online: 31 May 2019# Springer Science Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2019AbstractThe next step after smart cities is the creation of digital or smart nations. A digital nation requires a national transformation acrossdiverse institutions including the urban and rural areas of a society. Besides diverse social innovation initiatives, sustainability is akey aspect, so that rather than greenfield projects, long-term solutions will involve brownfield, smart city projects. A digitaltransformation to a digital or smart nation requires a great deal of innovation in planning, process re-engineering and execution.Whereas research work and policy actions are traditionally focused on a city level, these efforts need to be widened to the nationallevel. Existing city-scale theories and frameworks may be used and adapted to meet the larger-scale needs of the future smartnations. The new issues and research challenges which arise need to be addressed through interdisciplinary approaches. Thisspecial issue on the theme of digital nations attempts to address the need in the academic literature to provide a better understanding of digital nations.Keywords Digital nations . Smart nations . Smart cities . Innovation . Sustainability . Information and communicationtechnology . Technology impact . Technology adoption . Implementation barriers1 IntroductionCountries are moving from a digital transformation towardsthe realization of a digital nation. A digital nation can bedefined as a country in which urban and rural citizens, governments, and businesses live in a digital society that interactsand generates value, which benefits all stakeholders. The concept of digital nations is broader and more encompassing thansmart cities, as it covers an entire country.Smart city initiatives are restricted to the scope of a city,and what constitutes a ‘smart city’ is ambiguous. Hollandsalready questioned this in his article ‘Will the real smart cityplease stand up’ (Hollands 2008). Smartness is also an illunderstood concept (Gil-Garcia et al. 2016), and smart cityconcepts have been criticized for being too technocratic, ignoring existing political realities and citizens.* Marijn JanssenM.F.W.H.A.Janssen@tudelft.nl1Department of Management Studies, IIT Delhi, New Delhi, India2Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands3Ashoka University, Sonipat, IndiaFurthermore, technology use has been viewed as a goal —instead of a means — to make our cities clean and moresustainable. All too often an optimistic view of the potentialof technology is taken without considering the possible risksand adverse effects. Smart cities practices also cannot besomething that is added next to existing initiatives; the practices need to be embedded in all aspects of city governance.Smart cities also need smart citizens (Janssen et al. 2015).Interpreting data can also be problematic. More data might notmake people smarter and mistakes and bias can occur, not increasing the smartness of citizens. Data and their accompanyingalgorithms can ‘systematically introduce inadvertent bias, reinforce historical discrimination, favor a political orientation orreinforce undesired practices’ (Janssen and Kuk 2016 p. 371).Only smart people can see that this is happening.At the far end, a smart city might be focused on gainingmore control by monitoring its citizens using cameras. In thiscase, these interventions are often made by only a few peoplewithout being held accountable for their actions to the public.This action might actually make people less smart and lessresponsible as they become monitored. As such, a view isneeded which takes into account a realistic view of technologyembodied in a societal context, in which both influence eachother. Instead, a digital and smart nation should take the societal needs as a starting point and the larger governance system
496responds to these needs. This view should also acknowledgethat nations are different in various ways.Digital nations can learn from the experiments conductedby smart cities. Growing population and urbanization needsare motivating national governments to develop smart citiesand digital nations. The more considerable the populationgrowth, the bigger the need to bridge the economic, socialand digital divide with a focus on sustainability (Dwivediet al. 2012). This has to be enabled through the use of emerging paradigms of Information and CommunicationTechnologies (ICTs) like the Internet of Things (IoT),Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data-driven services(Chatterjee et al. 2018b). Additionally, the planning and implementation of smart cities are leveraging emerging technologies like IoT and cloud computing as the foundation to improve processes and outcomes in urbanization efforts (Liu andPeng 2014). However, these technologies can be used and alsomisused in various ways and need to be secured to avoidadverse impacts to the society (Chatfield and Reddick 2018).To gain the advantages of such emerging technologies, governments are also facilitating the interaction of citizens withsuch technologies (Chatterjee et al. 2018).Different countries approach the smart challenge differently. For example, India and China have initiated the planning ofmore than 100 and 200 smart cities respectively. In the absence of a nationwide smart city framework and the diversityof needs across different cities, each city has developed itsown data formats and systems. As a result, the systems areincompatible resulting in data islands that cannot be integratedacross these cities. As countries like India and China havelargely rural populations, the urban bias in smart city projectsneeds to be addressed to become more inclusive for makingsuch projects sustainable for the national population. In countries like India and Bangladesh, however, the governmentshave taken up initiatives like ‘Digital India’ and ‘DigitalBangladesh’ to transform the government and governanceusing ICTs across the country. Similar initiatives have beenundertaken in Europe and Australia. This digital transformation across the nation starts with simple digitisation initiatives,followed by digitalisation and subsequently matures into thedigital transformation of the nation.2 From Smart Cities to Smart NationsSmart cities can be viewed as a middle step in the journeytowards realising a digital nation. However, cities are diverseand need different types of smart city initiatives. Smart citiesare urbanisation efforts undertaken at the city municipalitylevel whereby many services for residents can utilise ICTs.One focus of such ICT usage would be to utilise emergingtechnologies like IoT and AI to minimise human interventionin processing and decision-making (Kankanhalli et al. 2019).Inf Syst Front (2019) 21:495–501This focus creates information assets gathered from varioussources like cyber-physical systems.These information assets must be managed efficiently andinnovatively to enable the city administration to be more effective. For example, the usage of smart devices in differentpublic domains like parking places, electricity grids, andstreetlight lights, etc. results in data capturing. This data hasa high volume, velocity, veracity and variety, which if managed effectively can generate immense value to both the cityadministration and citizens. To harness this value, governments are trying to operate smartly by collecting, collating,categorizing, analyzing, interpreting and distributing the insights from the data in public service delivery.However, there is more to smart cities than the scope ofICTs and data. For example, the data-driven approach helpscities to implement functionalities like smart mobility by providing safe, fast and efficient routes using traffic data. Theapproach also enables smart living by providing comfort andconvenience using data from IoT home products and systems.But there is also a need to protect the future needs of thesociety and accomplish societal values like transparency(Matheus et al. 2018). Also, the planning for the social architecture needs to cater to inclusiveness from the perspectives ofdigital, social, economic, professional and personal development. These five development targets need to be achievedwithout compromising the needs of the future in a sustainableapproach.An extension of the digital transformation of smart cities toa national level is the process of creating digital nations. Insmart cities, the urban transformation happens at the city level,and often such efforts are localised. At a very basic level, adigital nation is more of a connected nation that can shareinformation and intelligence dynamically, in real time to deliver services and improve the quality of life of its citizens.This requires an integrated infrastructure in which datasources and software functionality are shared. However, suchdevelopment is likely to restrict its scope within urban andsemi-urban pockets of the nation. To gain collective efficiencies and dissipate the pressure of economic, social and community expectations from the smart cities alone, evolutiontowards digital nations seems indispensable. This may evenrequire a structural transformation and a different way ofgoverning projects. Digital nations consist of a dense networkof smart cities which have achieved five inclusive development goals: the development of its residents’ digital, social,economic, professional and personal needs with significantspillover effects beyond the urban and semi-urban areas.As the global economy is interconnected, the governmentof such digital nations needs to take initiatives to move beyond smart cities to sustain the national economy even inadverse conditions. The nation as a whole should target selfsustainability as the cities are part of a larger network whichfulfils a diverse set of needs for the nation. The rural areas are
Inf Syst Front (2019) 21:495–501an important node in such a network; they complement theeconomy by not only servicing the needs of the urban population but also creating economic value through grassroot innovations and economic activities for all citizens, includingthose living in rural areas. Equitable access to information,and economic, social and commercial resources, need to beprovided. The citizens also need to be acquainted with theirrights and privileges and receive significant levels of empowerment — relational, cognitive, behavioral and psychological— in current and future digital nations. Some countries aremoving in this direction. For example, the French governmentin partnership with Cisco has a digital development programme which provides French students with the opportunityto develop their skills and expertise in the field of networking,infrastructure and design (Villa 2015).With the advancement and adoption of ICTs, the potentialto move beyond smart cities to digital or smart nations istremendous. However, guiding frameworks and institutionalstructures need to be enabled for this desired transformation.The study of digital nations requires interdisciplinary researchmethodologies, theories and lenses due to the high level ofcomplexity arising out of the scope of research. A smart ecosystem needs to address both technological and managementperspectives, and researchers are focusing on resolving thisproblem (Janssen and Helbig 2018). In the technology domain, researchers are also focusing on developing the ICTs,IoT, etc., so that they can improve the stability, flexibility,robustness, reliability, and sustainability of the smart citiesand for the nation. At the same time in the management domain, researchers are focusing on issues related to governanceand implementation of technology in the smart cities and nation, and technology-enabled transformation initiatives canhelp a nation achieve environmental sustainability(Chatterjee et al. 2018a). Smart city initiatives can also assistin identifying the causes of pollution, natural calamities, etc.Further, with Web 3.0 and social media, people and communities are interacting with each other to gain personal andprofessional information. In turn, governments are also communicating with their people via social initiatives like‘REACH’ in Singapore, ‘Mann Ki Baat’ in India, ‘MyGov’in Australia, etc. Using these social initiatives, governmentsare receiving input from different stakeholders and improvinggovernment services and utilities.As the concept of digital nations is relatively new, previousresearch has largely been inadequate. However, ongoing research studies are contributing to the body of literature forrealising digital nations. Some of the common characteristicsof these studies include:&&viewing smart city initiatives as part of national levelpriorities;developing internet and telecommunications infrastructureto connect every citizen to the web;497&&&&employing new technologies in all possible areas of service delivery, especially digital service delivery;with extensive usage of Information and CommunicationTechnologies (ICTs) for improving the lives of citizens;with a focus on societal goals, like realising sustainability,better waste management and reducing pollution;utilising interdisciplinary approaches to study organisations and society to achieve national objectives.This special issue aims to fill the gap in the existing literature on digital nations. Apart from examining problems related to the adoption and use of technologies, government policies, and social media adoption for public participation indigital nations, it also provides input for future digital nations.3 Digital Nations – A FrameworkThe research paradigm on smart nations should have contributions from diverse theoretical blocks, multiple areas of research ranging from information risk to sharing economy, andintegrate positivist and interpretative paradigms of research(see Fig. 1). The theoretical building blocks for developingthis literature in digital nations can stem from classic information systems research theories like management theory, organization theory, behavioural theory, computer science theoriesand systems theory (Barki et al. 1993). These theories arelikely to impact areas of research like public policy, data science, technology use, technology ecosystems, ambidexterityissues and innovation for the digital nation. The interdisciplinary approaches from these areas are likely to contribute to theexisting literature on digital nations in areas like sustainability;partnerships; value co-creation; technology-driven solutions;technology-enabled processes; innovations in services, processes and business models; planning and implementationchallenges; multi-dimensional impacts and its implicationsfor the future.As indicated in Fig. 1, building upon the theoretical blocksof information systems, we feel that the fundamental theoretical blocks for research may stem from management, behavioral, organisation, computer science, decision, and systemstheories. However, since the speed of digital transformationhas taken off, managing such new emerging technologies requires revisiting classic theories in information systems research, while the speed of progress necessitates revisiting,extending and adapting older theories. Questions beyondhow such new generation information systems are developed,managed and consumed while interacting with individuals,groups, organizations, and markets may still be relevant, butthe exploration requires an interdisciplinary approach morethan ever, and one that integrates positivist and interpretiveparadigms of research. In order to realise the full potential ofsmart cities and digital nations, plenty of ‘out of the box’
498Inf Syst Front (2019) 21:495–501Fig. 1 A Conceptual Framework for Digital Nations – from building blocks to themes for theoretical contributiontheorising is required to learn more and provide newdirections.The emergence of new business models (e.g., sharing economy, crowdsourcing, etc.) enabled by new technology (artificial intelligence, data science, etc.) may create challenges forfuture generations which may require deep introspection andtheorising. The blocks in Fig. 1 which highlight the possiblefocus of studies on digital nations are probably just the tip ofthe iceberg, as we venture towards the journey of realisingsuch digital transformation at a national level. Such a realisation would often have some barriers, from the perspective oftechnology, policy, stakeholder support and organisationalreadiness. Further validation of such conceptual frameworksmay need the adaptation of research methods that can interpretthe new nature of data (velocity, volume, veracity, variety) thatis created in this drive towards digital transformation.Approaches from machine learning and data science may needto be combined with traditional methods like statistical analysis and qualitative research methods to provide insights beyond traditional approaches in information systems research.4 Overview of PapersThis special issue is an extension of the conference proceeding‘16th International Federation of Information Processing(IFIP) on e-Business, e-services and e-Society’. We have organized articles broadly cutting across four themes: challengesin planning and implementation, technology-driven innovations, creating sustainability through partnerships, and impacton stakeholders. Twenty-five articles were submitted out ofwhich eight articles were selected for publication. The articleswere chosen based on a double-blind peer review process andsubsequently two to three rounds of revisions based on thereviews. The published authors are from Australia, China,Estonia, Finland, France, India, Portugal, Qatar, SouthAfrica, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Overall, the articlesutilise various theoretical approaches, and empirical resultsemerge from a wide range of qualitative and quantitative research methodologies. This research considers different factsand scenarios, shows case-based research, and presents literature reviews related to the domain of smart cities and digitalnations.4.1 Challenges in Planning and ImplementationSmart cities inherit a wide variety of technical, managerial andgovernance challenges— on one platform. Therefore, whentransforming a city into a smart city, an immense amount ofplanning and strategic execution is required.Two papers in this issue address this topic. First, in‘Identifying and Prioritizing Barriers to the Development ofSmart Cities in Indian Context’, Rana et al. have identified 31key barriers to the development of smart cities. These barriershave been further categorized into six dimensions:‘Governance, Economic, Technology, Social, Environmentaland Legal & Ethical’. For their study, they have utilised FuzzyAnalytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) based decision-making todetermine the biggest critical barriers to the development ofsmart cities. This is followed by sensitivity analysis to determine a more precise and stable ranking of these barriers. Toverify their findings, data from experts that are working onsmart cities project in India has been utilised. Rana et al. havefound that out of the six categories, governance-related barriers like coordination issues within the city’s operational network, not having a clear goal for IT management, politicalinstability, etc., are the most significant hurdles in India.Second, Rahman et al. (2019) investigate various technicalchallenges during innovation processes while using smart digital technologies in the smartphone industry in ‘Value Co-
Inf Syst Front (2019) 21:495–501creation as a Dialectical Process: Study in Bangladesh andIndia Province of West Bengal’. They show multiple stakeholder engagement in value co-creation within
by smart cities. Growing population and urbanization needs are motivating national governments to develop smart cities and digital nations. The more considerable the population growth, the bigger the need to bridge the economic, social and digital divide with a focus on sustainability (Dwi
to technology suppliers to Smart Cities, Smart City program managers, academics researching innovation and Smart Cities, and disability organizations and advocates working to make innovation and Smart Cities more inclusive. This Playbook has been designed to complement other tools that make up the . Smart Cities for All . Toolkit.
smart grids for smart cities Strategic Options for Smart Grid Communication Networks To meet the goals of a smart city in supporting a sustainable high-quality lifestyle for citizens, a smart city needs a smart grid. To build smart cities of the future, Information and Communications Techn
Smart City Platform Platform Platform Service Application IoT World Bank Korea Week 2020 Smart Cities of Korea. 2 Trends. Gen 1 : Sustainability Development of Smart City 3 2017 Google, Sidewalk Master Plan 2014 Singapore, Smart Nation 2012 China, announced a plan to build 320 smart cities 2018 Korea, National Pilot Smart City 2011
smart cities in Cape Town, South Africa and the privacy concerns associated with smart cities. C. HARACTERISTICS OF . S. MART . C. ITIES Cities around the world are attempting to transform into smart cities, in order to be more economi-cally competitive and promote sustainable gr
2019), the term "smart city" has not been officially defined (OECD, 2019; Johnson, et al., 2019). However, several key components of smart cities have already been well-established, such as smart living, smart governance, smart citizen (people), smart mobility, smart economy, and smart infrastructure (Mohanty, et al., 2016).
wider cyber, digital, smart, intelligent cities texts [2]. Intelligent cities, or intelligent spaces more generally, refer to a wide range of electronic and digital applications related to digital spaces of communities and cities, for example smart grids, smart meters, and other infrastructure for electricity, water supply, and waste management.
Smart. cities Europe.connected In this context, the digitalisation of cities, underpinned by emerging technologies such as 5G, IoT, edge computing and the further application of Big Data solutions will be key to the transformation of cities to
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